Game 50 - Castlevania - Week 76 - June 21

astlevania. It still holds up. 

I just finished the absolutely brilliant Netflix series wrapping up Season 4. The story was exactly what I wanted with the Carmilla (fem Dracula) arc coming to an end. The animation is top of its game and this is none more clearer than in the fight scenes. Issac vs. Carmilla, Alucard, Trevor & Sypha vs. Dragan and of course Trevor Belmont, Vampire Slayer vs. Death. A twist about Varney I did not see coming at all btw. Naturally these fights made me want to play a series I was always curious about. Well the anniversary edition was on discount at the time, smart move Konami, so I just had to pick it up. 

Trevor faces Death itself... what a natural and satisfying climax to wrap up the gothic saga. 

Well enough gushing about the Netflix series, what about the game? The art, the music, the gameplay. So SO GOOD. There's just something timeless about the 8-bit art and chiptune sounds tracks. Especially when it's an authentic OG. But specific to Castelvania they do a good job of making it uniquely gothic. The story is almost non-existent. You're Simon Belmont, line to a family of legendary vampire slayers. Count Dracula and his Castle has reappeared after he was slain by your ancestor a century years prior, so it's time to get to work. As you traverse the castle you'll vanquish classic monsters such as bats, skeletons, zombies, ghosts, mummies and medusa heads. 

So what about the gameplay? It's so good. Even the whip. Similar to Mario and mushrooms of the era, finding a whip improves the range of Vampire Killer - instead of a health buffer it gives you a damage buffer. A skilled player can crouch whip, jump whip and back step like something reminiscent to Street Fighter. Even now it's still fun to vaporize enemies with the whip. In addition to this Trevor has various items such as cross shuriken (boomerang), holy water that's essentially a Jesus Molotov (my favourite) or the ability to freeze time. It's fun to figure out the weaknesses and techniques for each enemies. The waiting and strike patterns, which items are best, especially for bosses. Some items just break bosses and I love that. In the Netflix series, a big part of the Belmont Clan's success at monster slayer is there study of enemies to find that classic Silver Bullet. Even dedicating an episode to the trio venturing into the abandoned hidden keep to find secrets on Dracula. So you can tell they were really faithful to the games, because that's exactly how they feel to play. The game does a great job recreating a feeling of adventure, climbing the castle to the top in a slow ascent, slaying everything evil as you go before inevitably reaching the villain. A classic fairy tale and I can see why it captivated so many of the time. 

I really would have liked to do the whole collection at once but there's just so many. I'll do 1-4 and Symphony of the Night one by one.